This application claims the priority of German Application No. 100 58 705.4 filed Nov. 25, 2000, which is incorporated herein by reference.
This invention relates to pourable, plastic-bound explosive charges and a method of making the same, wherein a crystalline explosive material is embedded in a polymer matrix composed of a binder, a softener and further auxiliary substances.
Plastic-bound explosive charges have, despite their high efficiency, a relatively elevated insensitivity. They are composed of reaction polymers in which, prior to setting, crystalline explosive substances such as octogen, hexogen, pentaerythrite tetranitrate and the like are included. The polymer proportion is approximately 10-20 weight %.
It is a difficulty involving the manufacture of plastic-bound explosive charges that with the increase of the proportion of the explosive material, the viscosity of the mixture may increase to such an extent that pouring such a mixture is not possible. The theoretical limit for a pourable mixture lies at 92 weight %. It has been nevertheless found that the practical limit for a pourable mixture is at approximately 90 weight %. Further, explosive charges having a solid material proportion of such an extent are pourable only when the grain size of the explosive substance crystals used for the charge is within a predetermined diametral range; thus, as a result, a relatively cost-intensive sifting of the grains by screening has been necessary.
As discussed on pages 9 and 185 in the work entitled xe2x80x9cExplosive Substancesxe2x80x9d authored by J. Kxc3x6hler and R. Meyer (7th Edition, Weinheim, Basel, Cambridge, N.Y., VCH 1991), it is known to add aluminum powder to plastic-bound explosive charges. Such an addition results in a significant increase of calories by virtue of the intense heat generated by aluminum oxide. The cited work, however, is mute concerning an improvement of the viscosity of the explosive charge.